Leagues Above
by TheRangerBoy
Summary: Taiyo Sukai, a recluse book lover, and Japanese descendant recently returned to the motherland, is pestered to get a hobby by his sister. Knowing little of Japan, he takes up gaming. His first game? Sword Art Online. Will his vast array of random and useless knowledge help him bring order to the chaos that is the SAO incident? A Realistic view of the SAO incident.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Pt. 1

14, September 2022 12:00

"You know, you really should get your head out of those books and go outside sometimes…"

I looked up to a tangled mess of black hair. Kiyoi. I blinked a few times at the proximity, slowly moving back to retain some of my personal space. Her face lowered further, taking my personal space yet again. I sighed, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

She wasn't going to let this go unless I answered.

"I like books." I say plainly… should be sufficient

"What are you even reading? I don't know how you get through those thousand page slogs."

"You'd be able to get through them if you applied yourself."

"Oh? How's that smarty pants?"

"You're smarter than me, so you can understand them just fine. You just don't give the book enough time to hook you."

"Hmm… Is that so?"

I stared at her wordlessly. She knew my answer and I knew she was planning something.

"What do you want?"

"How much do you want me to go through one of those?" She gestured to the book I was currently re-reading, a copy of the 3rd book in the Inheritance Cycle novel series by the name of Brisingr

"I would quite like that." I answered honestly, raising an eyebrow at her intense contemplation

If she got to the 4th book, I'd be excited to see her disappointment at the ending. While not liking it myself, it made sense in a way that meant you could only mourn at the bitterness it evoked. A stark contrast to most other endings in media.

"How 'bout this. If you pick up ONE hobby where you have to talk to other kids your age I'll read the first book. Each hobby after that is a new book."

My other eyebrow shot up, leaving me with a shocked but deeply interested look on my face.

"One?" I asked with skepticism

"One."

"Alright, sis." I put a bookmark on page 239, closing it and resting it on the nightstand near our living room couch

I walked to the door, slipping on my leather coat. It was from some video game, bearing an N7 on the left chest. I had no clue what game it was from, but I liked the design and I guess others did from the compliments I got over it for the first few weeks I started wearing it.

"I'll be out till 16:00. I'll make dinner before mom gets home." It was my day to cook

"You better not be late! You know I hate cooking!" Kiyoi shouted to me as I exited

She was obviously as excited by the concept as I was.

What hobby though…?

I thought for a brief moment, mind drawing blanks. Better head to the mall. It might give me some better ideas. I briefly looked up and to the right as I tried to remember the way to the subway station. Ah. It was just past that nice coffee shop.

I made my way left, hands entering my pockets for convenience rather than cold fingers. It was actually pretty warm for early September…

I dropped down the steps to the station 2 at a time, ignoring the pain in my right knee that flared up. It wasn't going to go away anytime, but my pain tolerance was perfectly competent at driving any physical response. I slid my pass through the ticket reader and walked through the turnstile, heading to the train. I was careful to stand behind the line as the train rolled up. I entered the train with the LEDs stating it was departing to Koenji, a popular shopping district.

I sat down in the seat right next to the window, looking up at the old man that held onto the hanging strap that hung from the ceiling. I sighed lightly before offering him my seat.

He accepted.

After the ride, I entered the shopping district. It was populated with electronics stores ranging from computers to appliances and even cars. I pulled out my wallet and stared at the bills that occupied it. After a short count, I realized I had a grand total of ¥255,924. Being I wasn't originally from Japan, it took me a few moments to convert it to American dollars.

I had $2,300. Well, not exactly 2,300 but it was not far above that. I hadn't spent much of my wages from my part-time job, and now it was painfully clear.

Sis was right. I need a hobby.

But what to choose?

I wandered around for a short while before glancing at a storefront. It roughly read Nerve Gear VR SOLD HERE. My Japanese wasn't the best when it came to writing, but I was fluent verbally. I glanced at my jacket before entering. My senses were assaulted with the covers of hundreds of video games. They ranged genre from something called fps (I had no clue to its meaning to VR, that one I knew from the articles on Nerve Gear to something called an "RPG".

I looked to the display for the Nerve Gear. It was supposed to replace all sensory input with that of the choice of a game developer. Essentially one would be put in the video game. It was a league above other forms of VR from what I read of the medical reports. It was even capable of blocking out the user's own sensations and completely overwrite them with the game's.

I curiosity was piqued.

How much did it cost?

I picked up the pamphlet that was in a little cubby that hung from the cardboard. I read the "facts" that it listed. Most were subjection from the beta testers of the only game developed for the system. It was called Sword Art Online, and according to the pamphlet, it was a VRMMORPG. I was slightly confused by the acronym until it was spelled out later in the pamphlet. Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. What roles were there to play? His interest grew as he went through the mechanics of the game as described by these Beta Testers.

Only one question remained…

How much did it cost?

I saw the ¥229,000 price tag and nearly did a spit take. That would take almost all of his money… but he felt compelled. It even came with a copy of the game, but due to bandwidth issues involving the servers, the game would be released in three stages. Each would take a month. First would support 10,000 players, a number the company wouldn't be able to make a profit off of. Second would support 100,000. Depending on the success of the game they would keep tacking more server space on to support the growing player base as needed in stage three.

It was a sound marketing decision.

They incorporated a lottery for each stage too.

I turned to the store clerk who had been looking at him in interest. Did the clerk know I wasn't a gamer?

"Are you going to buy anything?" The clerk seemed jaded

I thought for a moment.

"One of these." I pointed to the cutout

The clerk's head rose from his bored expression to surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It looks interesting."

The clerk grabbed one of the boxes under his desk, which I quickly recognized as a Nerve Gear Box. Apparently, if I got into the first 10,000 I would have a copy of the game in the box, and if I I had the second stage one I'd get a rebate for the game. Third would get a digital code.

I handed him the bills and headed out of the store with a slight skip to my step. I nearly stumbled as I realized this. I've never been this excited for something other than a book…

I opened my front door, closing it behind me and placing it on the table. My sister gave me a funny look. I gave her a smile in return. Her confusion grew to a question.

"Ok… I've never seen you like that before… like ever. What is it?"

"My new hobby." I said, unpacking it on the kitchen table

Kiyoi got up, unsatisfied by my answer to her question. She watched me unpack the Nerve Gear and a small cartridge about the 3 inches long, 2 wide and 1 thick. I held the cartridge with wide eyes. Just with the 100k in supply, It would be a 1 in 10 chance of me getting into the first stage. I squealed at the realization.

"What is it?!" My sister snapped at me, not liking being kept in the dark

My face illuminated.

"I get to play Sword Art Online on release day."

Her eyes grew several sizes. She gamed lightly, but even she knew of the massive backlog on the servers of SAO. The chances of me getting this were low, so she hugged me.

"You're so lucky!"

* * *

20, September 2022 12:55

I fidgeted nervously.

It was almost time.

I looked at the clock… 12:57.

Couldn't time run a bit faster?

12:59.

I fumbled with the cartridge, nearly dropping it a few times

13:00

"Link Start!" I said in clean English, excitement brimming my tone

Colors flew past my vision as I felt my sensations die. Panic took me for a moment as I couldn't feel my body, but soon I felt a calm breeze. It was the perfect temperature. I sat in a blue void, a message asking my preferred language. I switched the default from Japanese to English. I definitely don't want to misread any menus, so I'll stick with my first language.

Log in.

I snorted when I saw the sign-up button. Who in their right mind wouldn't have signed up by now?

I pressed Login using my username and password.

Username: Amat

Password: ***********

Ok Cancel

I selected OK, as the menus faded to character creation. I saw sliders to my right, but I touched the face of what I presumed would be my character and felt the area give. A smile grew on my face as I realized I could sculpt their face. I was actually quite good at sculpting, though not really a hobby. I only ever did it for art class. Once my character's face was to my liking, I brushed through the menus to change things like skin tone and hair color. Once satisfied, I selected the confirm character button.

Colors flashed by me again, and the same lack of sensation followed it but I was prepared for it. I felt the warmth of a mild summer day beat down on my back as I looked around.

It felt real.

All of it.

I touched my face to realize it felt natural despite the different geometry.

My grin turned feral as I sped up to a full sprint. I felt no real drain on my stamina. I felt invincible! Stopping by what I think is a shop, I stumbled through the menus a moment until I saw a free item.

*New Player Guide- by Beta Testers*

I selected it, accepting the 0 Col cost. I opened it and looked through the first page. It had detailed descriptions of the weapon types and their uses. I memorized the content of the page as I walked to the exit. I'd done a bit of research before the game into RPGs. Apparently, it was important to be careful with your skill choice. The first skill any player should pick is their weapon skill. At the moment I was unarmed and according to the manual, I'd receive one upon selecting a weapon skill.

What weapon type do I want to take?

Maces were slow, but did massive damage and were especially effective against undead and heavy armor due to their blunt damage.

Axes were moderately faster than maces, dealing nearly the same damage, but had no bonus to blunt damage nor undead, but instead, it was in bladed which had a damage bonus to light armor.

Swords were the jack of all trades, as described by the book. The only bonus they received was a slight increase to critical damage. They were moderately fast and had no obvious weakness in any specific category.

Estocs were faster than swords, received a critical damage bonus and had high puncture damage to living targets. Estocs did less slash damage than swords and had a small bleed chance.

Rapiers were the second fastest, boasting a massive puncture damage but next to nothing in just about any other category. They ignored 50% of a target's armor on critical.

Daggers were the fastest but had next to no damage. They ignored all armor upon critical or sneak attack. They did a moderate bleed damage on each strike, but as the weight of the armor increased, the bleed damage lowered.

Spears were listed to the side and their description made him chuckle.

Spears are slow, do low damage, but have really good reach. Don't pick this. They're trash.

I hummed as I stood around 20 feet from a wandering boar. It was marked as an enemy to him, but it wasn't attacking. I figure that trend will continue until it was provoked, so I'll have time to decide. I want to be fast, and swords sounded boring. That leaves me the Dagger, Rapier, and Estoc. The Dagger is a no go because the range sounded terrible. I took fencing classes at one point so I figure I'll be good with the Rapier, but I want to branch a bit… Estoc then?

Yeah.

Estoc.

I pressed the button, smiling at the flashy animation that played for the acquisition of the skill. Now… from what I read up online there something called sword skills. They did the most weapon damage and you gained more with the level of your weapon skill. Now… where was that thing? I fiddled through the menus until I finally found out how to do the first Estoc move.

It was called Flowing Stream.

I looked at the boar, edging into the range to provoke it before holding the flat of the blade parallel and pushing forward. My heart raced as I was sent flying past the boar, killing it in the process. I blinked in surprise at the range of the technique.

This was going to be a lot of fun…

I glanced to the clock to see 15:15. That was real-world time. It's nearly time to log off of the game as it was time to make dinner. Mom would be coming home at 16:00 and she'd forget to eat if it isn't placed in front of her.

I do a quick once-over and find no logout option.

I do another. Nothing.

My heart races as I search through and find an empty slot. I jam my finger into it as many times as possible, but nothing happens. I try to settle my panic by rationalizing the situation. Maybe they made a mistake? It's got to be fixable. That or Kiyoi will pull the helmet off my head. I'll be able to…

I feel a tingle as a bright light overcomes me.

I close my eyes in recoil of the offending light, but when I open them I do not appear to be where I was before. I'm in a large plaza with roughly 10,000 players. A mass summon? I look around in confusion as the other players are just as confused as I am. Is this to soothe the concerns about the inability to log out?

Polygons spread across the sky, their red color washing a tint over the crowd. It seems to expel some liquid the color of blood before the liquid formed into a mass in the sky. I watched carefully as robes formed and a figure took place through the liquid. It introduced itself in a smooth, and supple Japanese accent.

"Hello, I am Kayaba Akihiko, Lead developer of Sword Art Online!"

Worry crept into my posture.

"I am grateful to each and every one of you for following in the stead of VR to be here today. As the more astute of you may have realized, the Log Out feature has been disabled for each and every player."

He took a dramatic pause.

"This is intended and should be considered a feature." Gasps of horror fled through the plaza, "For each and every one of you are a resident of Aincrad now. This should be what you consider your new world. As to mimic the trials of the real world and to give it meaning, I have instituted a Permadeath rule. This is for the game and real life. In other words, if you die in the game, you die in real life."

The Kayaba's tone had never changed from it's polite if slightly curt ring.

"Now, you may be wondering how or why I could do such a thing… The simple answer is that is part of the prize for completing the game. As there is no level cap, the only way to complete the game is to go through Aincrad's 100 levels. Once you beat all 100 levels, you will be granted with two things. Freedom and an answer."

"Now let me establish one last thing: For those who dare to think outside the box, there are a total of 9 unique skills. These will be spread to the greatest of the classes. So I hope you dare to think…"

The figure began to disintegrate before he spoke one last phrase that killed all hope.

"Oh, and before I leave… removing the Nerve Gear from your head is fatal. Hopefully, the media will learn after those first deaths… Farewell!"

I felt my knees give as I realized my mistake. I knew next to nothing about games. I had no hope. I'd have to wait for the pros. I was useless…

No.

Rocks dug into my hands, but I didn't bother worrying about them. The pain was almost nonexistent.

I have a wealth of knowledge. I know I can learn. The people are going to panic. I can help with that first. My fists clenched with purpose. I know what I need to do. I know how to help.

I can do this.

* * *

Character Profile:

Name: Taiyo Sukai

Age: 15

Sex: M

Sexual Preference: Heterosexual

Personality Type: INTJ - The Mastermind

Avatar Name: Amat

Avatar Class: Estoc Badesman

Avatar Level: 1

XP to next level: 43

Stats:

Agl: 1

Str: 1

Vit: 1

Def: 1

Sword Skills:

Flowing Stream:

DMG: 3x Base

Range: Default

Throw Distance: 19.685ft (Converted from 6m)

Cooldown: 2s

Required Level to Unlock: 0

A/N:

Hello there!

I got bored and to cover a bit of my writer's block I decided to write this.

I'm planning on having this focus on one of the more interesting aspects of SAO. The world and the people are poorly explored and often just as poorly developed. The show skipped by all of this in favor of the action. So, as far as tone goes, this story is going to be more similar to Log Horizon. It will cover the struggle of getting used to the game from a non-Gamer's perspective.

Expect a great deal of politics and antics with OCs.

And for those of you who want to see Kirito…

As the most powerful solo player, he's going to have to get wrapped into the politics just as Taiyo is going to have to farm and raid with the front liners.

Well, See Ya!


	2. Chaos: Hope

Arc 1: Chaos

Hope

23, September 2022 21:30

Kiyoi stared in silence at the form of her brother in the hospital bed. She watched the IV's drip through her scruffy hair. She hadn't washed it since she saw the news. It was her fault. She hadn't touched him since she saw the news.

Her fault.

She was the smartest of the family, and she didn't see this coming.

HER fault.

She furiously scratched her head, stray hairs going to and fro. She watched as several of them, completely detached from her control land on the sterile tile. She felt as if they were her last vestiges of sanity, limp and ready to decay.

What could she do?

She couldn't pull the helmet off his head, as it would end his life.

Se searched her mind for the last vestiges of will he had imprinted on her. What was the last thing he wanted? Maybe if she understood him better, she'd be able to make up some of her fatal mistakes. Maybe she from there could grow to forgive herself…

What.

What?

Her fingers dug into her knees, drawing blood. It rolled down her knees before mixing with her tears. She felt a moment of trepidation.

Was she crying?

Did she deserve to cry?

She decided that she didn't. No. Not after the sin, she had committed. She wiped her tears away, determination working its way up her features. She vowed to only cry once Taiyo had woken up, and had forgiven her with his own words. Her thoughts were broken by a magazine at the edge of her vision. It read NeuroScience Today! in Japanese. Unlike her brother, she was fluent in Japanese writing, reading, and vocally.

An idea sprouted in her mind.

Books.

That's how she'd do it.

Maybe she couldn't get him out, but she could at least look in on him. She would read and study until she could see what he sees in that damn world. She stood up robotically and made her way to the door.

She gave her first words in three days to her brother.

"I vow to make this up to you."

She gave a silent chuckle.

It was her birthday too.

* * *

I frowned as I looked at the suit, staring skeptically at the information broker that had handed it to me.

"You really think I need this?" I asked her, unease edging my tone

"Yes. If you really want to go through with this you're gonna need it."

"I think armor might do a bit more…"

"Not if you're going to be pitching your idea to nearly 600 players."

"Fine."

I glared at Argo as I sifted through my menus, selecting the suit. I put a comb through my white hair, which I maintained from character creation unlike most of the other people in this hellscape.

Apparently, I blanked through the entire part where Kayaba mentioned putting the mirrors in everybody's inventory. So… I looked pretty badass. I was a solid 6ft, had white hair, amber eyes, and a handsome scruffy face if I do say so myself. All in all, I looked like someone who knew what they were doing. Couldn't be much farther from the truth, but eh. If this all worked out, we could expect a significant drop in Murders. My heart fell at the thought. People were calling the front gate a bloodbath. As soon as the safe zone effect wasn't present, they turned into rabid animals.

And here I was, suggesting laws and taxes to roughly 6% of the game population… more like 8% with all of the deaths.

I had to thank Argo though. Without her help, it would have been impossible to gather so many people, especially in three days. I asked her the price to spread the word, and she just told me dead customers don't pay.

I couldn't disagree.

And so, here I was.

I wipe my sweaty palms. Damn you Kayaba. I could really go without the presence of sweat.

I walk out of the curtains of the gathering area. It's packed with chattering players. My heart races for a moment before a steady breath slows it back down. I take a step up to the podium, shushes and hisses overcoming the crowd. It brought me some comfort knowing that they were at least interested in what I have to say.

Silence permeates the area.

"Thank you all for coming." I stumble out, before catching myself a bit, "You all may wonder why I've called the speech together. To answer that… I wish to present a few ideas that I cannot accomplish alone. As you all may have noticed, the chaos that has followed Kayaba's announcement has brought ruin among the player base. Murder, theft and assault run rampant out of the safe area."

I pause gauging the crowd. They seemed mildly interested.

"I propose we implement a set of laws and use players to enforce them. Like in real life, Anarchy will be the demise of any group of people. With order, these people will fall in line and we can begin striving toward getting ourselves out of this game! We can't expect the Japanese government to save us. If Kayaba could hide the deadly features of Nerve Gear from thousands of employees who worked with the hardware on all of our heads for years what chance does the government have?"

Most of the crowd seemed disheartened.

"So, my suggestion is that we organize ourselves! We form five branches of government. First would be to make our laws, second would enforce them and collect taxes. The last three would be designated to our liberation from Aincrad and Sword Art Online!" My voice rose, causing murmurs among the crowd

"How would these liberators be organized?" A smooth voice rang just as clearly as mine, charisma flowing from it

I glanced through the crowd to properly address the question. I couldn't find the speaker.

"Could you identify yourself so I can properly address that great question?" I asked, grin sneaking onto my features

A man stood, appearing in his late 40s with steel gray hair in a ponytail and one strand hanging in front of his face. His high cheeks and proper posture exuded tact and intelligence.

"Heathcliff, Guildmaster of Knights of the Blood Oath."

My grin grew even further. This would be perfect for convincing the crowd.

"Well, Heathcliff. I plan for these to be organized into three lines. Front, Middle, and Auxiliary. Front would consist of the best and brightest. They would be the ones taking on the newly unlocked floors and clearing the bosses. Middle would be responsible for maintaining mob populations, collecting general supplies so the front line can receive cheaper supplies to properly do their jobs. Blacksmiths, Merchants, and those good with logistics would fit this role best. Auxiliary would be those in training to be either Front or Middle. In their free time, Front and Middle liners will have the choice of passing on their skills and talents to those in the Auxiliary line. This would ensure that no player took unnecessary risks trying to reach the other line's skill level. All of these players would be supported by the benefits of their occupation. Front Liners are paid in better gear and cheaper supplies, Mid-Liners are paid in support and by the guaranteed business of the Front Liners. The Auxiliary are paid with free training and help in leveling up."

Heathcliff raised his hand to his chin for a moment in thought.

"As a Guild… The Knights of the Blood Oath support you. We can discuss the details later."

I wanted to squeal when I heard that. The KBO was the largest guild at the moment, and well respected. Their backing would definitely help this cause.

"Any other questions?" None were presented, but there was an audible buzz among the crowd

"Thank you for your attention, and application forms will be present on the way out. Please feel free to apply for any position."

I quickly walked off to behind the stage, heart thumping in my chest.

I did it.

Argo looked at me with a raised eyebrow, her drawn on whiskers seeming to taunt me.

"Oh shut up. Three days ago I was a recluse nerd. I probably had a total of 10 minutes of conversation a day. This is a big jump for me!"

"If you say so…" Her smirk taunted me worse than the whiskers

I sat down in a chair nearby with a sigh of relief.

"How long do you think everybody will take?" I said, referencing the applications

"Well, it's not like we're asking for too much information so not more than 20 minutes…"

"Icecream?" I asked

She grinned.

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

There was a misconception about the food here. People seemed to have the impression you could only find incredibly stale bread. While that was true, it wasn't entirely accurate. Various stores could sell MUCH better food but at a ridiculous premium. To put it in perspective, the ice cream I so adored cost 3,000 col a bowl. That was roughly the same price as a moderately good dagger and since you earned only 5-7 col per boar, it took a while.

Hell, the only reason I could manage it was because a theory I had proved to be correct.

Being in the game was treated similarly to a coma by the body. As such, while uncomfortable, it was entirely possible to go days without sleep with no drop in cognitive ability. It meant I could kill mobs for 18+ hours straight with only minor breaks for eating and to restock. This could continue for days straight. That fact alone gave me a solid level 7. It wasn't easy, but it gave me the pull in situations when people called me a "noob".

Argo had to explain that one to me.

Simply put, it was hard to call someone a higher level than you incompetent.

That was something I loved.

Anyway, after the ice cream, we headed back and collected the applications. I was surprised to find a solid 200 in the bin. So, papers in hand, I made my way to the inn so I would have somewhere comfortable to go through the applications. I sat down and ordered a ginger juice. It was a sweet thin and refreshing drink that also happened to provide a boost to agility. It was only 3 points, but at this level, it was still nice.

I slipped on a pair of glasses as I quickly scanned through the papers. Some were promising, others were flat out lies. The ambassador of Japan? Really? At least come up with something a bit more believable…

"Ah, there you are." That smooth voice from earlier called my attention

"Heathcliff! It's nice to see you! Thanks for the question and support. It really sold the idea to the crowd." I said cheerily

He sat next to me, ordering the same drink as me before responding.

"I'm happy to help anyone willing to bring some order to this godforsaken city."

"I hear you guys are searching for the boss room?" I ask, denying another bogus application

"Yes, we think it's in the Gobsden Dungeon. It seems to be much more heavily fortified than the others we've crawled. My scouts are having difficulty getting past the Minotaur though."

I sip my drink.

"How's that?" I ask genuinely, curious how some bull men have them in such a rut

"Well, they seem to be immune to the hide skill, and they are also immune to bleed and blunt damage."

"Why not get some swordsmen in there?"

"They are resistant to slash damage." Heathcliff deadpanned wearily

It was obviously tiring the man out.

I winced.

"Can't find any Rapier or Estoc users?"

"Apparently they don't look "cool enough" for most of the player base." Heathcliff mocked with air quotes

"I may be able to find a few rapier and estoc users looking for front lines in these. Care to help me sort them out?" I gestured to the stack of papers

"I came here to escape the work… only to find it again." He sighed out, grabbing a page

I felt there was something more to it, but let it drop. The real world was not something to be focused on right now. I grabbed another page, seeing something Heathcliff was looking for.

"Hey, Heath. I think I got something."

"Heath?" He seemed confused

"It's faster." I explained away, "Look at this though. This girl, Asuna. Rapier user, Level 5, she even got 176ms on the reaction speed test! I think she's a great pick fo- Auxiliary line? This must be wrong… Oh."

Heathcliff seemed amused.

"What is it?" He asked with a smirk

"She's a dumbass. Like… SAO is MY first game and I scored a 72 on the test portion."

"What'd she make?" He seemed as ready to laugh as I was

"12." My face hit the table after saying that

"I'll check her out anyway." Heathcliff gestured for me to hand him the page

"Oooookaaaay then…" I handed him the page, glancing at another

A guy named Agil. Hmm. His skills and reaction were ok, but he actually had some good merchant stats. His retrieval rate on items was actually really nice. He'd be a nice pick for midline.

I scoured through until I found a fellow Estoc user. He was gunning for front lines, 199ms reaction time and his Estoc skill was actually not too far from mine...

What was this guy's name?

"PV55YSL4Y3R96." I said in disbelief

I heard a snort from Heathcliff.

"I'm sorry… could you repeat that?"

"There's an Estoc user with pretty nice stats… the only problem is his name."

"His name."

"Yes."

"I asked you to repeat his name…"

"PV55YSL4Y3R96." I repeated, "No to him?"

"No, he's not up to the job I'm afraid." Heathcliff said with mock sorrow

"Ok, after that, I'm taking a break."

* * *

A/N:

I'm really liking this fic and I think it's a nice way to get over my writer's block with some of my other stories.

So, here's his character sheet:

Character Profile:

Name: Taiyo Sukai

Age: 15

Sex: M

Avatar Name: Amat

Avatar Class: Estoc Badesman

Skills (1 every 5 levels):

Barter (17/1,000)

Avatar Level: 7

XP to next level: 610

Stats (5 per level +3 base increase):

Agl: 6

Str: 4

Vit: 6

Def: 5

Sword Skills:

Flowing Stream: Unlocked

Blade Dance:

Damage: 5x Base

# of Hits: 4

Range:

~6.3ft (translated from 2m)

Cooldown:

5s


	3. Chaos: Relax

Arc 1: Chaos

Rest

24, September 2020 03:30

I feel a nudge on my shoulder, waking me from my slumber. I place a hand over my face, rubbing it to shake the sleep out of me. Just because you don't need to sleep didn't make it any less drawing.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, looking up at the NPC who stared at me unflinchingly

"We close in 10 minutes, and all service will be discontinued for those who haven't paid for a room."

I sat up, placing all of the papers in my inventory. I had gotten everything decided, and all I had to do was send the messages out. We ended up finding the bodies required to scout out the dungeon. That was the good news. Bad? I was one of them.

I got up, exiting the inn.

The cool breeze of night washed over me, filling me with relief. Or was it morning? I checked the time, blinking in surprise. I only slept 4 hours. No wonder it was so chilly. It was 3 in the morning. I walked through the empty streets, looking up at the intricate carvings that made the roof to the first floor. It seemed like a waste in my opinion. I mean, if not for getting trapped in this game most of this would be appreciated by hundreds of thousands if not millions. It made me sad to see something like this waste away.

I exited the city gate, heading for a small grove that occupied a large portion of my free time. I kicked up a slight amount of dust as I traveled on the dirt road that lead to it. Small rocks ground into my boots, leaving my steps with a satisfying crunch. It reminded me of home… before I moved to Japan. It made me wonder if I'd ever see it again. I was born in the good 'ol US of A. It made me nostalgic.

Frustration flashed across my features.

I remembered why my mom wanted to move from Japan to the US in the first place. It was me. My sister, the oldest between the two of us by two years, was there when Mom announced she was pregnant with me. It wasn't long after Dad died either. Apparently, Mom thought it'd be better on us if we moved to the US.

She wasn't wrong.

Once I hit working age, I helped support the family but it wasn't too bad. I got to keep 40 or 50 of my check, and we lived comfortably. I wasn't too big on having more than I could spend anyway.

I arrived at the grove, plopping down on a stone wall that happened to be near it.

We only moved back to Japan when I turned 14. That was because Grandpa died. I didn't know much about him, but he left my mom quite the sum in life insurance. With that, I got to keep my checks. I searched myself to find something… anything to blame for my situation, but I kept drawing blanks.

I couldn't even fault Kayaba.

This was an amazing game, one that I probably would have been obsessed with if not for the whole Tron dealio. I couldn't fault the man for wanting to create his own little world. At least that what I thought he wanted. That just made me wonder…

Doing this and just standing by would be stupid and most likely incredibly boring. He knew how amazing this game was. He loved it so much that he stuck 10,000 of us in here to prove it. Why would he stand by and only watch? Kayaba was in the game.

That realization struck me to my core, but not in the way I thought.

"At least someone is enjoying this." A voice behind me said, creating a double entendre with my thoughts

I turned to sit parallel with the wall to see the person who spoke. It was a young man, looking to be no more than 14. His black hair and childish features drew me to the odd juxtaposition it caused with his level. It was 11.

How in the hell did he get it that high?!

"And you are?" I asked

"Name's Kirito. You?"

"Amat." I responded

We stared off for a moment before determining there were no hostilities on either side. You had to be careful when out of a safe zone.

"So, what are you doing out of the safe zone. PKs are pretty common at this time." Kirito asked me

"I like this little grove. The sunrises and sunsets are amazing here." I said honestly

"Mind if I join you?"

"Nah."

He got up to the wall, sitting as I was before. I returned to my position too.

"Why do you think it is that no one really takes the time to relax here?" He asked me

I thought for a moment.

"We all want to get out of here as fast as possible." I gave the stock answer, the obvious one

"Isn't that a bit ironic?" He pointed out

"How so?"

"Well, we all play games to escape. Whether it be good or bad, we come to escape. Our interest in this world is based in lacking in our own. Now we're trapped with the better world and we want to get out…" He said with a chuckle

"You sound like you don't want to leave."

"To be honest… the only reason I want to return is for my Suguha."

I glance to him questioningly.

"My sister." He elaborated, "I pushed her away a few years back after some bad news… I've been regretting it since then."

"You never got to tell her sorry?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Mom, Sis, Books. In that order."

That earned a chuckle from the swordsman.

"You had white hair originally?" Kirito blurted out

I blinked at the swerve in topic but answered none the less.

"Nah, I just wasn't paying attention during his speech. I missed the whole wardrobe change." I gestured to him

"Damn… must be enjoying that."

"Yeah, well no one would take a 15-year-old seriously in my case."

"Your case?"

"You haven't heard about it? Argo's been passing it around like wildfire." I asked skeptically

He shook his head.

Oh.

"I basically suggested a system of government and a way to clear this game."

Kirito seemed genuinely surprised.

"Huh, never thought people would get their heads out of their asses anytime so soon."

"Well, I'm glad to have your approval. Thinking about applying?"

"Nah. I'm more of a solo player myself…"

"You do know that doesn't work in MMOs… right? This is my first game and even I know that."

Kirito sighed.

"I know. I just don't play well with others for too long."

I gave that a moment of thought.

"That's quite the conundrum."

"Yeah."

The sun finally peaked over the horizon, washing both of it in red light. It was gorgeous and quite relaxing. I sat there for a moment before an idea came to me.

"Why not become a Mercenary?" I asked

It made sense. He'd retain his autonomy while being able to level up with high-level players on the front lines. A few more people like him, and he'd be able to implement days off much more cleanly for the front lines.

"You know… I might just try that." Kirito said, giving me a kind smile

I got off the wall, drawing the attention of the Swordsman.

"Well, I've got some acceptance and rejection messages to send." I say waving as I made my way back to the city

"See ya man!" Kirito shouts back, leaving me with a strange impression

Kirito was an odd character, seemingly bright in the face of the dangers that approached. He had a warm, welcoming presence despite the lone wolf figure and playstyle. I also had this feeling… Kirito was going to do something important in the future. I never really got that about anyone before. It was an odd feeling.

My eyes were drawn to the sunrise as I neared the front gate. I was pleasantly surprised to see some KBO members standing guard. Heathcliff was certainly quick in implementing the new applicants. They stood a bit straighter upon recognizing me. I internally scowled at the idea.

I don't want people to be afraid of me.

I entered the gate to see a bustling city. Checking the time, I realized it was 07:30. Blinking for a moment, I took the scenic route to a small player owned restaurant by the name of Pea's Eats. Strange name, and even stranger cook but the food was a league above the crap from NPCs and it was affordable. It wasn't like the ice cream, but it did show how much a player could level a skill in such a short time. Pea, the owner was constantly bragging about her cooking skill. Somehow the smurf of a woman got it to 200 already.

"Ah! Amat. How's my favorite politician?" A small, high pitched and slightly raspy voice called to me

"Ok. What do you want." I stated rather than asked

"I'm hurt!" Her soft features, ones I had to stare down to see, mocked pain

"I had to pay a 30% premium last time I went here because you "Don't like Politicians"." I deadpanned to the legal loli

"I hate liars… you don't happen to be one like most politicians."

I looked at her in surprise.

"Not much has changed, so I wouldn't say I've fulfilled any promise to be considered trustworthy."

"You haven't noticed?" She looked honestly surprised

"No?" I motioned for her to elaborate

"This morning around 5, the KOB broke up the fighting in near the gate. They're also settling street-side disputes and stopping the looting. Just in two hours, most shop owners have seen a good increase in sales from the happier people. I'm surprised Heathcliff never told you."

"No. He didn't. Not that I'm complaining… getting things sorted out sooner rather than later is the best option."

"I can set you up with him at a table if you want. I don't think he'll mind."

"Show the way."

We passed a few happy patrons, some apparently already drunk. Why Kayaba allowed that in the game, I have no clue. I caught Heathcliff's eye as I entered his cone of vision. He looked at me and with a charming smile, he beckoned me over.

"Ah, Amat! It's great seeing you!"

I watched as the man shifted in his full Iron Plate armor, something that would cost a player roughly 18,000col to offer me a seat next to what appeared to be wiley, thin built, and stuck up man.

"I'm glad to hear that. I'm honestly a bit surprised you're getting things done so quickly…"

"I've been gearing up to really getting some work done, and you just so happened to provide me with that opportunity. I'm just finalizing some things with our new treasury director."

I looked to the thin man.

"Yes, I was a foreign funds banker before this whole incident so I'm quite capable around large sums."

"What's the current exchange rate of Yen to US Dollars?" I asked him, testing him a bit

He raised an eyebrow from behind his thin-rimmed glasses.

"151.34 Yen to the Dollar of course."

"It's actually 152.16." I stated before continuing, "At least it was before the whole incident… You pass."

The banker seemed surprised.

"You're right, I forgot the exchange fee. It's minor but important to the exchange." he said with a smile that I met

I sat down, leaning forward and craning my neck to both parties.

"Now, what's on problem list?"

* * *

24, September 2020 08:30

"Kiyoi? Darling?" Yuno Sukai asked through the locked door

She was promptly given a rough grunt through the door by her daughter. The mother of two was getting worried. Kiyoi hadn't slept that night and had made some strange purchases. They were things she'd expect from her son, but her daughter? Kiyoi had never really been interested in academics despite her outrageous intelligence. The mother remembered the troubles she had fitting Kiyoi in advanced classes. The girl would only do tests, passing with A+ quite frequently despite her record as a hookie.

Seeing her daughter's shift from a lazy Genius to such a driven young woman concerned her.

Sudden changes in personality were rarely good. It often begat other psychological issues.

"Kiyoi? Please answer me?"

The dull hum that filled the room stopped, causing the mother's heart to skip a beat. She heard the patter of footsteps on the carpet before the door unlocked. It creaked open, showing the face of her 5'5'' daughter. Two inches taller than her mother, the girl's outward shriveled state made the girl look more like a zombie than her daughter.

Yuno's eyes knitted with concern as her daughter seemed to stare past her.

"Honey, you need to sleep. I understand what happened hurts, bu-"

"No, you don't. This isn't your fault. It's mine."

The mother's eyes narrowed in cold fury.

"What do you mean." She held her wrath back for a moment

"I was the one who suggested it to him. Now, I have to make up for that." The girl said simply

"You couldn't have known." Yuno's anger melted away into sorrow

"It doesn't make it any less true. I want to at least see what I've done to him."

"See?"

"The Nerve gear sends signals to the user's brain. I want to see what it's sending."

"That's what you've been working on? You don't even kno…" Yuno grew quiet as she saw the various contraptions that filled her daughter's room

They were well beyond what a novice could produce that was for sure.

"You learned to do all this?" She looked amazed at the complex wiring that filled the room

"I took Taiyo's advice and I used my smarts. Apparently, he was right at how much of a waste I was."

Yuno's arms tugged around her daughter, holding her as if she would disappear in a puff of smoke.

"I won't hinder you in any way to your goal if you do one thing for me. Just promise me this."

Kiyoi didn't return the hug but did respond.

"What?"

"Just take care of yourself. Eat, Sleep…" The mother chuckled for a moment to relieve the tension in her heart, "Bathe. Please do that. I don't want this all to be resolved and Taiyo to come back to you like this."

Kiyoi paused for a moment, seeming dead of thought. Arms slowly snaked their way around Yuno as Kiyoi's head bent down. As she embraced her mother, she whispered something that filled the woman with relief.

"Ok, Mom."

* * *

A/N:

So, I'm really liking writing this story. I haven't been this geared to write in a while...

I hope you guys like this, and I'm open to suggestions and corrections. A reviewer pointed out a dating mistake, and I'm thankful for that.

See Ya!


	4. Mystery Amongst Us

Arc 1: Chaos

(Law and Order Sub-Arc)

Mystery Amongst us

26, September 2020 04:30

*Ding* My message counter ticked to a 1

I blinked the sleep from my eyes. Hmm? I ran a hand through my hair as I pulled the blankets off of me. I swiped my finger in the gesture to open the menu. I had one message marked under urgent. Scratching my itchy head, I opened it. It was an audio message.

I didn't know you could send those.

"Amat. We have an issue. Meet me at the KBO headquarters ASAP. This could cause another panic beyond the level of the Gate Incident." Heathcliff's voice was only slightly warbled

My heart skipped a beat.

The Gate Incident happened on the first day. Not long after Kayaba's announcement, since the city was a safe zone a large number of players made their way to the front gate. People were trying to consolidate gear and other items as was common in the beta… a fruitless endeavor. Players only dropped a tag when they died after the main release of the game. By the time that was discovered, 250 had already died.

If he thought it would be that bad…

My fingers flew across the menus as I equipped my heavy armor. It was uncommon for someone with an Agility weapon to use heavy armor, but I liked the aesthetic. I burst out of the inn, rushing to the KOB unofficial headquarters. As there weren't any guild halls until roughly floor 5, they made do.

I fled past people, knocking several over. It did no damage, but I quickly apologized without slowing my pace. While my Agility afforded me a massive stamina and an even greater speed, it still took a good 5 minutes to reach the headquarters. I rushed past the guards in front, not having to show my player card as I was easily recognized. I entered the meeting room, gasping for breath. Heathcliff was alone at his desk, and he seemed to be nursing a headache.

"We've got some issues." He stated

"I… Know… That…" I finally composed myself, closing the door, "What happened?"

"Laughing Coffin."

"Who?" I asked in confusion

Was it a player? Party? Guild? Dungeon?

"You remember the Murderer we caught yesterday?"

"Yeah, the creepy one with the cloak. I know about him."

"He's dead."

"I'm sorry what? Not lost, escaped or hidden?"

"Dead. We found his tags."

"That's impossible, he's in a safe zone!"

"Apparently it is." Heathcliff ground out in the first genuine display of anger out of the man

"Do you have any ideas who di- Ooooooooh. This guy calls himself Laughing Coffin?"

"Yep, and apparently he's discovered a way to kill in a safe zone."

My mind was reeling at the implications.

"We have someone on our hands who can kill, but we can't?" I felt a headache coming on

"It had to be done over the course of the night. That's the only qualifier we know of."

"Isn't that a bit stock standard? I mean, isn't it just easier."

"You'd think that, but it would be more suspect to see someone roaming here at night and with people thinking they can't be killed? It'd be easier to blend in after the fact with the bigger crowds during the day."

"You're right…" I frowned out

"Wait, how do you know this Laughing Coffin guy did it? Did he leave a call sign or something?"

"The mark was painted with some generic paint from one of the NPC tellers. It's pretty common to change your gear's colors, so that's a dead end."

"Maybe its a glitch?"

"Sadly no, the Cardinal system prevents that."

"Shit."

"Now you know how I feel."

My mind drifted for a moment to Kirito. I didn't know why, but something he said bugs me. Something that makes me think outside the box. My eyes widened.

"I'm not too familiar with games, but is there any way to hurt someone in a safe zone? ANY at all, no matter how contrived."

Heathcliff thought for a moment. The man thought for a long while.

"Well, you can get into duels. Some can be to the death but that requires both parties to be awake. The other person has to be awake to press the accept button."

My shoulder slumped in realization.

"Now we're trapped with the better world and we want to get out…" I repeated the swordsman's words, continuing my point "We keep treating this as a game, but it's not anymore. We can grab, touch and even feel the other players around us."

I continued my point by rushing over to Heathcliff and grabbing his arm. It remained limp as the man looked at me in confusion. I shaped the man's fingers so they followed the gesture that would open the menu. I swiped, and Heathcliff's eyes met mine in shock.

I forced Heathcliff to open his menu.

"If our killer was able to do this to the sleeping prisoner…"

"Then it would be a simple matter to make him accept the duel, poison him and kill him."

"Bingo."

"Now… one question remains."

I looked to the Guild Master.

"How do we catch him before the masses find out?"

Derp

26, September 2020 10:30

Kirito sighed as he sat under the shade of the tree. It was the one that guy had shown him. Every few days he'd come back here, be it to admire the sunset, sunrise or do what he was doing now.

Relaxing.

After a two day long binge on farming, he felt comfortable with his level. It was a solid 14, and around 40% left to get to 15. To any other player, this would seem outrageous. After all, most players were at least 6 levels off from him. While he wasn't quite "OP" when compared to his fellow players… yet, he was capable of taking down 3 players at once with only moderate difficulty. With his level, he couldn't reliably farm anywhere as the time spent was not worth it.

What to do?

He frowned.

He hadn't really made any friends since SAO actually launched.

Maybe he should try that?

He opened the chatbox, something integral to most MMOs. He glanced through some of the chatrooms. He found mundane ones such as a guy inviting people to a party but he also found more serious ones. One example was a chatroom that allowed the victims of abuse to speak anonymously. It warmed his heart to see something like that.

It didn't give him anything to do though.

His defeated posture perked up as he saw one chat room flash across his vision. It was inconspicuous, but Kirito had a feeling that it was linked with that Amat guy. It was a subsection of the KOB chatroom. It had job listings. That was not the part that really interested him. It was the location of the dungeon and that according to the listing, it was a level 12+ dungeon.

According to the listing, it was a mixed dungeon, meaning that the variety of enemies' damage resistances required a party.

He frowned.

He was fine with working with others but…

He let out a sigh.

It seemed inevitable, at least considering he was playing an MMO.

He put forth his information to find a suitable squad.

Derp

I frowned as I killed a Dire Wolf.

It wasn't because of the wolf that I frowned. It was because why I was fighting the things. They were well under my current level, as were most things on the floor. I was a solid level 14 while the highest level mob here was only level 10. To say that my actions were pointless was an understatement.

The reason I was doing such pointless grinding was from sheer frustration.

We had identified the likely way the killer had killed our prisoner, but because of the nature of the game… it was a perfect crime. After covertly discussing matters with investigators…

On that.

It was actually a shock to me for a moment. I distinctly remember thinking Heathcliff was crazy when he brought up the idea of detectives being in the game. Though on second thought, it was stupid that there wouldn't be at least one professional investigator that would have picked up SAO.

Anyway, back to the crime.

The sad thing to say was that SAO wasn't designed to be a "one life only" type of game. As such, there wasn't really any consequence for murder other than the criminality system. Heathcliff explained why the name of the killer wasn't displayed by the dropped dog tags.

It was apparently to keep the anonymity to murder as he put it.

If a player killed a member of a guild (Which was apparently common, why? I have no clue), they would obviously want revenge. If they knew the player, it would be a simple matter of finding them and getting revenge. This would hinder player choice, so it was left out from the game.

It made sense, but it didn't make the waiting any easier.

Yeah.

I was stuck waiting.

There was nothing to track the player by. No name, no footprints, no DNA, no fingerprints, no weapon, no blood. I didn't really have an option.

As such, I was taking my frustrations out on this poor wolf.

Maybe I would be able to buy a house by floor 7?

That is if I survive till then.

I slammed my blade into the ground in frustration. Why did people have to be so finicky? Why did I have to pick up SAO? Why couldn't I ignore Kiyoi? This was her fa-

I stopped myself before the words left my mouth.

"I can't believe I would ever say something like that." I muttered to myself in genuine fury.

I had no right to be angry at her.

*Ding*

I was surprised to see a message notification at the corner of my hud.

I opened it and was surprised to see a friend request.

It was from Kirito and had a voice message attached.

I opened the audio file, hearing the swordsman's voice.

"So hey, it's me Kirito… as you probably guessed from the request." I heard a soft thump, which I assumed was a facepalm

"I took your advice, and I'm working as sort of a merc but I've run into an issue. The group I'm with kinda needs an Estoc user or a Rapier user. All they have for piercing damage is a spearman, but they're… timid. I figured I'd hit you up and see if you want to have some fun with your common joes. So… well… that's it. Hope to hear from you soon."

I chuckled silently as I accepted the friend request and set him a message via text.

I was just looking for some busy work, so I think I'll go with you guys for now.

It was short but sweet.

I turned to the distance, seeing Tolbana wasn't too far. I sheathed my Estoc and began a brisk jog that barely nibbled at my stamina. I let out a soft sigh, though. It'd be at least a good 10 minutes of this till I hit Tolbana.

Derp

Kirito rubbed his eyes as the group that hired him shuffled about. They seemed nervous. He understood why, after the youngest of the group, Sachi explained. He was surprised to hear that Sachi was actually the same age as him. Being 14, he never expected someone as cautious as her to be playing a game as groundbreaking as SAO… though he figured he'd have to drop his preconceived notions of MMO player bases. Kirito was surprised to discover that the player base as a whole was surprisingly not your stereotypical collection of unattractive 30+ overweight men who still live in their parent's basement.

Go figure.

He perked up after he caught a glimpse of white hair. It was a unique trait held by very few players, namely the already old and those who didn't pull out the mirror in during Kayaba's announcement. It was interesting to him, to see someone new to games apparently do so well at them. He felt a sense of companionship in a sense.

Kirito had always been amazing at games.

No matter what he did, he always came on top. Be it old or new, he just seemed to outpace other people in games. It was nice to have a power trip in gaming every once in a while, but Kirito had grown bored of it not long after. Thus, he ventured into challenge runs, speed runs… they never lasted long for him. His interest would wane once he hit the top.

It seemed this Amat guy was quite the skilled player.

Maybe someone who could provide the bored player with some entertainment…

"Hey, guys!" Amat called over to the group he was with

"Hey! Glad to see you here!" Kirito responded, waving to the guy

"Well, I'm glad to be here. Paperwork apparently doesn't just stay in the real world."

Kirito chuckled as he gestured to the group he was with.

"Well, Amat this is the Moonlit Black Cats. The blonde is Ducker, The guy with the mace is Tetsuo, Sachi's the girl she hasn't picked any weapon type yet. She's been too nervous to go on the lines too much. This guy," Kirito gestured to the second tallest of the group, "Is Keita. He's their leader. He uses a staff."

"Wait, they have staffs in this game?" Amat asked, genuinely surprised

"Apparently they're a blunt subsection of the spearman skill tree."

"Go figure." The politician put a hand to his chin as he seemed to think

"Nice to meet you Amat." Keita said civilly, trying to clear the slight air of awkwardness at the disparity in acquaintance

Derp

Well, this is going to be interesting.

I apologize for the wait, but I might be able to get to a semi-regular schedule for these updates. Most of it was research. I slogged through case reports for murders and I'm currently slogging through laws. It makes this quite difficult for the sake of keeping realism, but eh. As for the early introduction of the Black Cats, and the various organizations that litter Aincrad...

Realistically, these organizations would need to start as early as possible to gain the support and following they have in the latter floors.

This Sub-Arc will focus mainly on (SPOILERS FOR THIS FIC) the origins and creation of Laughing Coffin. After this, I plan on a short bout of relaxation before we head to the 1st-floor boss. Something that will be different from the show though...

Don't expect them to get out in 2 years.

To complete an MMO in 2 years? That's plain ridiculous.

Anyway, I guess that's it for me.

See Ya Next Time.


	5. Vacation for Who?

Vacation for Who?

I smiled as I ducked under the swordsman's strike. It was a slash that did little but draw the mini-boss' agro as Kirito called it. I was glad for the fact that Kirito was willing to explain some of the concepts that made up the Gamer's Creed. They were simple things that were constant in games.

They varied, but some were constant.

A good example was the thing that alerted us to the presence of the boss before it had even spawned. Kirito stated that large open rooms with little in the way of cover usually held minibosses. It was an interesting idea and one that happened to be true. As such, we were the ones to face this boss. And it was a good thing I was brought along too.

The boss was quite a cool looking one, covered in heavy black armor. The armor curved and molded around the boss in a natural sense as most of the floor's theme took on. I dealt a swift slash under the cover of Kirito to the mini-boss' underarm. My grin widened as it's health dropped and its speed lowered.

It was under the bleed effect.

The thing the beta-testers' book never stated was that any weapon but maces could deal guaranteed bleed damage as long as the weapon scored a critical hit on a vital point. Under the arm was one of the ones for humanoid enemies. Bleed dealt damage over time proportional to the enemy's max hp per bar minus the damage type resistance. Human type enemies tended to have horrendous bleed resistance and as such, the mini-boss lost the last of its second bar.

We have this thing on its last legs.

Me and Kirito dodged back as the boss went into a rage state. Sasamaru took front, preventing the boss from making distance on Kirito and I with his spear's reach. Lightning covered the boss' shield and sword as he swiped with the shield. It was obviously designed to break the guards of tanks. The lightning charged blade came down, but was redirected as the boss's stance was changed by a spear strike. It caused the blade to miss its target.

The lightning faded away as it continued its assault.

I jumped forward, using the fact that my agility stat was the highest in the party. I used the small buckler that was held in my left hand to deflect the strong damage. Due to my slightly off timing, I took some damage through the shield. It didn't stun me as the boss was by the parry though.

"Now!" I shouted as Tetsuo jumped in with his mace

The mace wielder broke the helmet that covered the mini-boss' head, revealing its face. It looked almost Elven, but the neck of the boss was surprisingly long. I smiled at the attention to detail. I may not like being in a life or death game, but the world was quite rich when you really got to look at it.

Just as I noticed this, the boss' head was separated from its body. It was a condition only possible with the Sword and Axe classes. They could decapitate foes, rendering them… well… dead. It was useful as it could do a massive amount of damage, but it had several pre-qualifiers that made it a distinctly team effort to accomplish.

First, the enemy had to be under 40% health.

Second, the enemy had to lack a helmet or on our case, lose it to a mace's heavy armor damage.

Third, the enemy had to be in repose. These states were any that locked them to a specific animation that wasn't tied to dealing damage. We couldn't decapitate the enemy if they were attacking, but if it were parried or had fallen… then it was open.

And lastly, it couldn't be immune to one of the effects. Actual bosses can't lose their gear upon it breaking but receive a stat debuff. Skeletons didn't require a head, so they'd just lose sight. If it were a beast too big for any sword to cut through the full neck, they couldn't be decapitated either.

On this mini-boss though…

It worked.

I raised my hand to high five the expert gamer. He was the one to suggest the strategy. I smiled with a toothy grin, as Kirito looked back at me.

"That decapitation was epic!" I stated as he completed the high five

"Well, that parry was even cooler! I never really used those things because of the difficult timings. I can react fast enough, but I can never get the shield where it needs to be at the right time. That's why I usually stick to a sword only."

"It's really nothing. Just get the shield at around a 40 de-" I cut myself off at that realizing I was about to delve into my vast array of useless knowledge

I got into the habit of that as most of my peers always thought bad of me for it. I understood why, as the whole thing was probably annoying. Having the personal version of Google basically, explain every accomplishment… wasn't exactly the most flattering thing.

"Hey, with those book smarts… I might be able to work out a few ideas… Interested?"

I hummed in thought for a moment.

"Sure. What is it?" I said as one of the black cats whooped over their new gear's stats

"I know SAO inside and out and I've been thinking about varying my move-set. I can't think of any way to do so. I've tried adding another sword, but it does next to no damage."

I thought for a moment back to my browse through the menus and the hotkey system. Maybe that? No. That wouldn't work too well as the item took roughly a second to form and bore none of its stats in this state. My mind froze for a moment.

"Didn't you say you just stuck with the sword? As in, you've tried parrying with a sword?"

"Yeah, it wasn't too effective as the recovery time doesn't let you take advantage on the repose."

"What about a dagger? It would be faster, and would prevent the issue of recovery."

"That might just work… well, normally it wouldn't as it would instantly get knocked out of my hand. It'll work later though."

I stared at him, deadpanning at the backhanded compliment.

"What do you mean by later?"

"Well, on the next floor there's a quest that grants an extra skill. It's called martial arts. It allows the user to be much more versatile in their sword skill placement."

I raised an eyebrow, making my question apparent.

"Functionally, it just eliminates the detection window normally required for a sword skill to activate. Without it, you can keep your sword in the sword skill state by comboing sword skills together. It means a good bump in damage but that's not the relevant bit."

"Oh?"

The idea of the skill had already peaked my curiosity, but there was more to it?

"Yeah, it makes it so that your stats apply to unarmed. Normally Strength and Dexterity only apply to a wielded weapon, or if I were to dual wield… one weapon. The martial arts skill would allow me to use your idea of a parrying dagger without my strength stat failing and me dropping the dagger."

"That does sound really interesting…"

"Well, you've already got that buckler so I don't really think you'll need it."

"The info could come up handy in the future." I said simply

"Ain't that the truth…"

I leaned against a nearby pillar, undamaged due to the immortality of the environment. I finally searched through my inventory for all the items tagged "new". I found a few items that interested me, but none were that outstanding.

My message counter dinged, alerting me to a new message. It was marked under the promotion tab, a place that users could send out floor wide announcements for a not so modest fee. It was definitely an interesting concept and was surprisingly not filled with spam. I guess it made sense though… in a game of life and death wasting money, a vital resource to ensure you survive, was an incredibly poor idea unless you were suicidal.

I opened the message.

It was from some guy called Diavel…

Dear brave player,

I stopped paying attention at that. I knew when a guy had an ulterior motive and this guy had one. I glanced back at Kirito, noticing the fact that he hadn't received the message. I turned back to the message, scanning it for details.

Beyond the massive load of cheese and butter, it was a pretty straightforward message:

The meeting was in Tolbana, and it was tomorrow at 14:30.

I frowned.

"Hey, Kirito?"

Kirito turned to me, his light armor with a thin coat fluttering in the wind.

"I just got a message. Apparently, they found the boss room. Some guy named Diavel."

"Him? Geeze… that guy's been a pain in my ass."

"Wait? You know this guy?" I looked at Kirito, incredulity lining my features

He chuckled at my reaction.

"Yeah… it does seem coincidence seems to travel with me." Kirito admitted with his right hand to his chin before continuing

"I've been getting offers for my Anneal Blade. Since it's already +5, it's basically the best sword for the next seven floors. I've gotten quite a few offers through Argo, but after a bit of money to tell me who it was… I got that guy's name. He's been persistent."

"So wait… you're telling me you've basically got the best sword in the game right now?"

"Pretty much."

I deadpanned at him. Was he really that casual about it?

"So… do you know anything about the guy?"

Kirito shrugged as I saw the moonlit black cats in the background celebrate further. Apparently, someone brought drinks.

"I don't know much beyond that. I'd guess that he's pretty serious about clearing the game though. That or he has some vendetta against me."

"So I guess I'll go." I decided, earning hum of surprise from the swordsman

"You really trust me that much?" Kirito's humbleness shone through

"Dude, you are basically the best player I've ever seen. Of course, I'm gonna follow you. You're obviously doing something… more like a lot of things right."

"Well damn… I never really expected you felt that way."

"Well, I've definitely got a lot to learn about games in general if I want to be a decent leader. I remember a good quote that really hammers that point home."

"What's that?"

"If the king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?"

"Huh… that actually makes a lot of sense."

"Well, I may not be a gamer in the traditional sense… but I've definitely done my fair share reading."

"You were a bookworm before this?"

"Guilty. The whole reason I got into SAO was because my sister said she'd read one of my favorite book series if I got a hobby outside my usual sphere of interest."

Kirito looked a bit downtrodden at that, guilt seeming to overtake his smile for a brief moment. It only took a moment for the player to recover to his former gaze, but Amat had already guessed that he hit a nerve.

"So… you want to join me in checking out what that Diavel guy has to say?"

Kirito hummed in consideration for a moment, tilting his head side to side. He seemed to go back and forth until he settled on a short "Why not?".

* * *

It had been a few hours since my little "Vacation" and I was missing it already.

Once I got back, I was hounded by a furious Heathcliff. Apparently, Diabel had taken the information from a member of the KoB. I don't have a clue why it was me he chewed out but eh. As for the robbery of the map data for the boss dungeon... It made sense. The KoB were, at this stage, the only large organized group capable of doing the searches required for finding the boss. How he knew that the KoB had the info… that's the mystery. And this whole ordeal means that the murder case is on hold.

I frowned behind my desk, leaning back in my creaky old chair. To be fair, I was only renting the place so the chair wasn't actually mine.

Neither was the room.

Nor the bed.

Come to think about it, I didn't really own anything other than my gear.

If it wasn't for battle, I didn't have it. I rubbed my face in frustration, realizing that despite taking up a hobby that forced me to interact with others… I was still a loser. Maybe once this is all over, I should think about getting a girlfriend?

I blinked a moment.

Did I really just think that?

…

I must be painfully lonely then. I'm usually the type to restrain myself quite well around the opposite sex. I'm definitely no lady killer, but when it comes to attractive women I never found myself involuntarily staring or even glancing. Sure, they may look hot but does that really warrant losing control over myself?

The answer is no.

Damned teenage mind. It probably has something to do with hormones. I shook my head in frustration. It might have something to do with the fact that I'm most likely laying in a hospital bed and have been doing so for a long while. It made me worry though.

While I was confident in the fact that they could keep our bodies alive for the duration that it took us to get out of this hellscape, our minds? I wasn't so confident. For one, life and death situations are very poor for the development of a young mind. Considering the population of this game was mostly around the cusp of 18 due to its C.E.R.O rating of a C. C.E.R.O. was the Japanese equivalent of the ESRB for America.

I honestly wasn't too afraid of life and death situations compared to most of my peers. That wasn't because of any particularly extraordinary courageous personality on my part. It was due to how I saw threats. Ever since I was little, I never really freaked out when I was in danger. As long as I can think and come up with some way to optimize my chances of survival… I never got scared. I treated it almost like a game.

I snorted at my accidental double entendre.

My frown darkened as I scoured my memory for any information on mental degradation caused by external factors ie. not diseases. Physical atrophy will still be an issue, but the fact that SAO is drawing our brain's capabilities should help prevent most mental degradation.

The stress is what's most likely going to cause people to crack.

My head rose as an idea sprung into my head. Recalling historical data, most ancient civilizations had some form of the "Gladiatorial arena. This was due to the heavy stresses that burdened the average person during those days. As the average person's stress level went down and the civilization advanced, the Arena was almost always fazed out.

"That might just solve the KoB's money issue."

I smiled as some of my good 'ol American capitalist nature took root.

This was going to be fun.

My train of thought died as I realized it wouldn't be long until the meeting in Tolbana.

"Shit..."

* * *

A/N:

So, that's that.

I had a lot of issues figuring out how to write this. I might go through Log Horizon for a few ideas. If you guys have any ideas, feel free to message me. I'm usually the time to bounce ideas off someone so I think it might help. I'm definitely not going to have any major plot points decided by you guys. Sorry to say that, but it bugs me when authors turn their stories into 'choose your own adventure' ones for the readers with how much is decided by them.

Anyway,

See Ya.


	6. To Illfang, The Kobold Lord?

Chaos and Order

"Progress"

I rubbed the back of my head as I looked to the rood of the floor. I made it to Tolbana a short while after the fight with the Mini-Boss. Kirito had decided to join later as I left immediately and booked a night at an inn. He'd said something about checking out the dungeon a bit better.

I wasn't one to complain.

Tolbana wasn't exactly a place that was bad to be around alone. It had its fair share of things to do. There were inns, markets, even small plays held by players for a modest fee. They weren't half bad either. Granted, most of the players were god awful at acting but the poor acting lent itself to its own laugh.

I felt the sun beat down on me as I changed out my armor for a cloak. While the heat didn't get oppressive as it did back in America, it still wasn't pleasant. The cloak was made of a breathable material and was surprisingly well made. I frowned for a moment.

Where did I even get this?

I checked the tags of the item. I was a convenient tool in any player's arsenal. It told the origin of the item and its materials sources. If a player made the item, the player's name was displayed. If an NPC made the item, the shop's name, its city, and its floor were displayed. Seeing none of these, I figured it was something else. After a few moments of searching, I saw a red line of text.

*Traditionally worn by the courageous Silver Knights of the elven lords, cloaks like these were used to shade the knights' armor from the blazing sun found in the 18th floor during the height of their reign before the Elven Divide (See More).*

"Huh, no wonder it does so well in the sun." I mumbled to myself

I checked its passive abilities, looking in surprise as I saw its quite useful stats.

^-50 Equipment Load^

^+30 Fire resistance^

^Immunity to (Suffocating) Effect^

^-1 AGL^

(Suffocating) was an effect unique to Heavy Armor. While players couldn't use elemental damage, mobs could. Once a threshold was met for an element type, a status effect was applied to the player. The effects went as such:

Fire (Light Armor): Ablaze

Target is set ablaze, reducing health by 4% per second unless the fire is put out.

Fire (Heavy Armor): Suffocating

Target is cooked inside their armor, reducing armor rating by 40% and lowering movement speed by 30%.

Lightning (Light Armor): Paralysis

Target is paralyzed for 4s and max HP is reduced by 10% for 10 minutes (Stackable)

Lightning (Heavy Armor): Faraday Cage

Target's armor degrades by 1% /s for 10s, under 30% integrity, the user is put into the (Welded up) state. In this, they cannot move unless they pass a 1.3x armor STR requirement check. Check requirement is reduced by .11x every 3s.

Cold (Light Armor): Frostbite

Damage taken is increased by 20%.

Cold (Heavy Armor): To the Bone

Cold seeps into the target's limbs, reducing damage dealt by 40%, and reduces movement speed by 10%

Overall, the system was balanced. Heavy armor took longer to receive a status effect but they were more severe in most cases. Both hit the armor types where it hurt most. With my impressive AGL stat, I was insanely fast for a heavy armor user. I wasn't as fast as the high tier AGL players, but I could play in both alleys at once. I'd like to think it makes me hard to pinpoint, and while it worked splendidly on mobs, I had no reference for how it would work against another player… nor did I really want to.

I checked my hud, glancing at the time. It was 14:22 of…

What day was it again?

I smiled bitterly.

"Guess I just lost track of how long I've been here."

I shook my head as I headed to the meeting place, cloak protecting me from the harsh sun. It was a short walk, only taking me roughly 5 minutes to complete. It wasn't unpleasant either, as the renaissance era architecture was a sight to behold.

"If the other floors keep looking this good, I might find it a bit hard to leave SAO…" I mumbled to myself

I felt the direct sunlight fade as I entered the shadow that encompassed half of the city. It was actually quite interesting. Tolbana had some unique geography, being settled where it was. It was in a valley… well, not a huge valley but it was solely lodged in a crevice of rock with only its north and south actually having a gate. It meant that at some times of the day, the city would have a shadow cast over certain areas. It seemed likely that the choice by the developers was deliberate.

I looked at the clock as I entered the plaza… well to be more accurate, it was an auditorium. It lacked the amenities that the one in the Town of Beginnings sported, having no sound amplification system. It wasn't exactly needed considering the entire auditorium only span possibly 40m or roughly 130ft.

I glanced around seeing approximately 35 players minus a man with blue hair and armor standing to the side of the rugged stone podium that occupied the stage. The auditorium seemed to only be for orations as upon closer examination, I noticed a small line of fired clay that fused the podium to the stage. With the already hulking size of the stone, it seemed unlikely it would be moved either way but for weather and maintenance purposes it seemed logical.

Yet another small detail that the devs showed care and finesse over.

I sat up on the second to highest bench as I waited the… apparently thirty seconds until the presentation started. The man I assume to be Diabel was referring to the beta players' greated guide. It was the very same one I read and memorized as my Bible. It was a matter of life and death after all.

"And now I'd like to reference page 47. According to the Beta Testers, the first boss is Illfang: The Kobold Lord. He is approximately 16m tall and wields a Talwar. His Talwar does all damage types besides Puncture so bleed damage shouldn't be too much of an issue. His main weaknesses are Slash and Puncture and he is resistant to bleed damage. Any questions?"

"Attack patterns?" A relatively experienced player asked

"For the most part, he has slow 1-2 second wind ups but his attacks are enough to one hit kill a level 8. His attack combos are limited to 4 hits and once he performs his final attack in a combo, he performs a roar. During this state, he is vulnerable but will deal 50% more damage for 15s after this."

"Any low health power-ups?" I speak up, drawing a few eyes in recognition

"Ah! Amat. I'm glad to see someone as esteemed as you to join this raiding strategy meeting."

"I'm glad to see things progressing like this." I lied

This was throwing so many wrenches into Heathcliff and my plans.

"Back to your question, the boss does reach an enraged state once his health drops below 30%. May I ask what gave you the idea to ask?"

"The last two Mini-Bosses had enhanced states at low health. It made them a pain to kill."

Murmurs drew through the crowds. It made sense, after all, there was a hard limit of Mini-Bosses per floor, specifically 5. This meant that only the strongest and best equipped of players could face them down and win. That combined with my status and the fact that I was still risking my hide despite my standing seemed to make the crowd more approving of my position.

"Y-you've beaten 2 Mini-Bosses?" Diabel said slightly skeptically

"Yes, The Dire Wolf Pack Leader with the KoB Assault Team and most recently the Silver Knight with some acquaintances that I am not at liberty to expose."

I specifically mentioned the KoB as it would help their reputation a bit after the fiasco of Diabel discovering the boss room. The fact that Diabel had been the first to 'offically' discover the floor was definitely bad for the KoB. It made them look incompetent, and it made my job harder.

"I… I see. It is good to see that we have experienced people to help us." Diabel seemed to be taken off guard by my straightforwardness

"Yes, but could we continue? I would rather we get all of the information out there as cleanly as possible to limit the number of ill-informed raiders."

"Y-yes. You are correct. Back on point, if there comes an event as Amat described I believe we should back off from the boss, and reexamine its attack patterns. Further orders will be given afterward. Now if that is all, I'll create a forum that we can decide on party formations and on party roles."

I heard a collection of dings and came to a realization.

I could have done this with my speech… Instead, I had to manually comb through papers and verify information. My finger faltered as I neared the 'Local Forum' +1 in my menu. I sighed as I let it go. It was no time to get pissed at my lack of knowledge. I opened a forum, looking through the listed parties.

"Hold on a second! I've got something to say!" A voice drew my attention from the forum page

It was raspy and very loud, making me cringe in annoyance and surprise.

"I think some of the players here should apologize."

I pinched the bridge of my nose at the player, speaking up.

"And why would that be?" I asked, making it apparent that I REALLY didn't want to know

"Some of us have known more about this game, and by that, I mean the Beta-Testers! They've hoarded the good farming spots and all the good loot. I think they should give some of that up as compensation."

"That is a good idea." I responded earning a smile from the man, but his smile soon faded as he saw the look on my face

"If not for the fact that the Beta-Testers distributed a manual at the request of the developers with tips and tricks… for free."

"They still-"

"Could it be perhaps that you didn't know about this? I would find that odd that you wouldn't know considering you're the leader of… what was its name again? Aincrad Liberation Front?"

"Of course I know about the book! It still doesn't help new players and half of the information is wrong! Of course, you'd defend the Beta-Testers, you're probably one of them!"

I remain silent for a moment before pulling out my copy of the book. It was worn and was in desperate need of repair. It had small notes and guides sticking out in a manner that told any observer it was well studied. I looked the Guild Master in the eyes and answered.

"This is my first Video Game. Hell, before this I didn't even know what farming was. I got in here, and I studied this book harder than a priest studies his bible. Look at me now. I'm level 17 and I'm currently able to beat just about anyone here in a duel. Would you care to test that?" I finished, drawing my estoc and flipping over my cloak to reveal my Steel Plate armor.

It was expensive and well stronger than any non-unique armor for the next few floors and most of the players there knew that. The Guild Master known as Kibaou knew this too from the glint of fear that entered his eyes.

"If you have nothing else to say, shut up and let the adults talk."

I went through the Forum menus as I searched for a Party. By now, most had been filled with the exception of two. The first contained 4 players and the other had 2. I checked the names on both and immediately chose the one with 2 players. The names Asuna and Kirito entered the top left of my vision causing the Beta-Tester's head to perk up.

I couldn't see him before, but now I saw the player as he sat with another. It looked to be another player though, I found it difficult to make out any identifying features through the thick brown cloak that obscured their face.

"Kirito!" I said cheerily

"I'm glad you're in this party. Our other member seems to be the silent type."

"Shame."

I glanced to the hud and noticed Kirito's level.

"You're level 20?!" I whisper harshly in shock

How in the hell did he even get that strong? The guy must be dedicated as hell.

"I took the idea you had about not sleeping and farmed a level 10 area for a good 17 hours."

"You haven't slept for two days?" I asked dumbly

"It's by no means be my best record. I max out at 4 days in real life." The teen shrugged

"You have no life."

Kirito stared at me for a moment before sighing.

"You're not wrong. It makes me wish I had spent more time my sister"

"Well, if a total newbie like me could grow this strong, I think an expert like you has a good chance of making it out of here."

"Thanks, man." Kirito said turning to the currently unspoken player of the party, "Now, if we're going to work together… I think it's good that we get to know each other. Right?"

My attention turned to the cloaked party member. I examined them closely, noticing the Rapier at their hip and the fact that the cloak was an obviously low level and very well used. There were small patches that were prominent in splotches. They gave me the impression that the cloak held some value to the player despite the brief time spent in this game.

"I'd rather not." The figure said calmly with an edge of malice in her voice

Yes. This was a girl.

"Oh? I wasn't expecting that." I said in genuine surprise

Girls weren't exactly common in Aincrad. From the polls and the resume documents I've examined, I'd figure the ratio of Male to female was around 5:3. The numbers were even lower when you accounted for combat role volunteers, resembling more of a 5:2 ratio in favor of men.

The ratios tended to flip in management roles though. When it came to managing resources and funds, women tended to be more frequent.

Truly, this girl was an oddity.

"And what's that?" She asked sarcastically, obviously thinking she knew the reasoning behind my statement

"Women volunteering for combat roles isn't common. That makes you a bit of a diamond in the rough so to say."

"Yeah. I think it's nice to see a bit of diversity. I'd hate to see the raiding teams become a sausage fest. Kami knows if I wanted that I'd just have to head to WoW."

That earned a brief moment of silence from both of us. I took a moment to let Kirito's comment sink in before I found myself resisting the urge to burst out laughing. After a bit of fighting, I managed to settle for a low, quiet chuckle. On the other hand, though, the stalwart sass let out a brief giggle. I looked to Kirito, giving him a knowing look.

"What? I was being serious."

* * *

I laid back casually in my chair, causing it to lean on 2 legs.

It hadn't been long since the meeting and after the introductions with Asuna. We had discovered our party's role and now was the 1 day period we were given to stock and socialize with our new member. It also gave me a little while to explore some ideas but that was neither here nor there.

"You do know you're going to fall out of that thing someday." Asuna spoke up as she sat on the bed, organizing the large number of potions she had been given

We came to the rule of who would take what place in the party. And since we had just enough people for the holy trinity of MMOs. Kirito was to be DPS as he had the highest level, Asuna was to be healer due to her massive AGL stat that even surpassed mine despite her being 7 levels below me. While there weren't spells or anything of the such for traditional healing, it was still a necessary role. It gave more freedom to Hotbar more useful items such as spare swords and shields for other classes as a weapon's durability went down in proportion to the STR stat behind the attack that it parried or blocked.

I was to be the tank. With my heavy armor, I was just as tanky as Kirito and only a small bit slower than him despite the 3 level difference. Kirito far outstripped me in STR though, earning him the highest DPS of the group and his role.

Done with my internal monologue, I answered.

"I haven't fallen in a long while, plus I think best this way."

"What could you possibly have to think about now? We have all the information on the boss we can get. Worrying yourself over things like that won't help any of us."

I planted the chair back on all fours, my feet coming to rest there as well.

"I've done a lot of reading in my time and if there's one thing I've learned about Kayaba's other games, is that he's a big buff of mythology. We're facing a Kobold right? I'm trying to think of if there are any materials they were weak to in mythology."

That earned a hum of surprise from the girl.

"And here I thought you were just wasting time."

"Considering my life is on the line, I'd rather have every option present before the battle begins."

She waved off my comment before asking,

"Any idea when Kirito is getting back?"

"If you want to know just message him."

She huffed at me before going silent.

"Okay, what's so hard about messaging the guy? Do you have a broken menu or something?"

"No…" Her voice grew quiet

So there WAS something preventing her from messaging him…

I was silent in thought for a moment.

"Do you need help figuring out what to say? I've always been bad at starting conversations with strangers" I lied, attempting to get a bit more out of the girl

"It's not that." She mumbled out quietly

"Then what is it? I'm perfectly happy to help if you tell me what's wrong. I used to be new to games so if the menus are giving you trouble, I definitely know where you're coming from."

"I don't know how to open the menu."

I stared blankly for a moment, before being forced to contain my laughter. I did a good job and only let nostalgic chuckle leave my mouth… or that's what she thought it was.

"Take your hand like this… and swipe like so." I performed the gesture and opened my menu

She gave me a blank look before copying me. Her menu opened without issue.

"There you go. Problem solved. You should be able to figure out how to spell Kirito's name from your hud. My hud's in English so it won't really help you."

"Your hud is in English?" She seemed confused

Ah. I forgot the first trials of SAO are only in Japan.

"I was born in America, moved to Japan a little while ago."

"You speak really good Japanese." She said genuinely

"I've been raised to speak it, but I never got around to getting too good at reading and writing in it. I can pass, but I'm at most equivalent to a middle schooler."

I heard the message sent noise before I got a response.

"It's still not common. Most of the people we get are degenerates with no life, obsessed with our animation."

"Yeah… I speak for all decent Americans when I say I am SO sorry for those people. I always imagine a bunch of Japanese people dressed in fat cowboy outfits going to New York and screaming 'Yee-Haw'."

Asuna gave me a strange look.

"It's basically what some Americans are doing to you guys."

"I'm back." Kirito stated, opening the door

"You weren't wrong when you said 3 minutes…" Asuna whistled

"What can I say? I'm honest and loyal to a fault." Kirito said, plopping on the bed with a sigh

"So you got all the shopping done?"

"Yup. Got a few rapiers for you and an extra Estoc for Amat. As it stands, we're a bit over-leveled to buy useful gear at this stage."

"Thanks, man. I may have come up with a weakness for the Kobold Lord."

"Oh?" That piqued the interest of the other players

"They tend to be Cold Blooded in history so I'd say we might be able to lure some fire or Ice damage dealing mobs into the boss room. Some of the Ice ones would be pretty helpful against the small ones and the fire would some work against the Lord."

"I don't remember any Fire or Ice mobs up to the dungeon." Kirito said with a hum

"Well, I guess I'm out of luck." I simply frowned out

The group fell into a comfortable silence, the small clacks of Asuna's potions being the only noise to sound throughout the room. I smiled internally as I felt the gentle draft that filled the room. Its chill drove away any possible stuffiness and gave the room a sense of freshness.

I opened my inventory, checking my stats and making any last minute adjustments before bed. My stat page made me smile in confidence.

Avatar Class: Estoc Badesman

Avatar Level: 17

XP to next level: 7280

Stats:

Agl: 56 (-1)

Str: 43

Vit: 45

Def: 44

Equip Load: 22/116 (-50 from Cloak of the Silver Knight)

Weight Ratio: 1.9% (Tier 3 M. SPD)

Elemental Resistances (Against Equal Level):

Fire: 40 (83%)

Lightning: -6 (-12.45%)

Cold: 0 (0%)

Bleed: -4 (-8.3%)

While my Cold and Bleed resistances weren't too good, from what I read It's pretty normal for my resistances to be low at this stage. Except for fire. My fire resistance was phenomenal. I mentally doted over my cloak, and the stats it provided.

"Gonna stare at that wall of text any longer?"

I blinked at the sassy comment, nostalgia rising in my chest. Something about that question felt familiar to me.

"You know… I think it's about time I took a break from the numbers." I stood up from my chair, a smile on my face reflecting my realization, "I'll be back by 18:00. I've got some stuff to think about. Thanks for pointing that out to me."

My smile grew slightly more bitter as I exited the room, disregarding the look of disapproval that Kirito sent to Asuna. I needed some time on my own.

* * *

Kiyoi placed her soldering iron in the third hand that sat on her desk, the Ikea furniture wobbling at the force of her hand. She looked at the large board that was approximately 38 cm in length. Her chest heaved at the nervousness she felt. After a mountain of research into the Nerve Gear, she had come up with the first step to her plan. This large board was similar to a traditional capture card, and even held components from those, but it served a unique purpose that made making it so difficult to make. The first issue she had to get around was the unique encryption that each Nerve Gear held. That she had gotten past in the first 3 days.

The second was processing.

The Nerve Gear's size combined with its graphical capability were far beyond any modern computer to process. As such, it used the most powerful computer available. The brain. Since the brain processes the images, all she had to do was take the images post processing. This brought another issue. The file size would be astronomical if she were to try to record them and were in a format that only the human brain could read. This led to the only shortcut she had taken on the project.

Instead of displaying the images, they would clone them for her eyes through another Nerve Gear. She looked at the helmet that hung from the corner of her desk, her face twisting in hate. She wished she could have thrown the thing in a pool of molten metal but she admitted that it was necessary for the first stage of her plan.

She grabbed the parts and the helmet and placed them in a styrofoam filled backpack.

She zipped the backpack up and opened her door. Her mother stood in front of her. The look on the woman's face told her all she needed to know. Her mother's posture spoke of a solemn tact that surprised the teen.

"You aren't here to stop me." She said to the woman

"No. I'm here to support my daughter as she's come out of her room with an expression other than guilt."

Kiyoi's face grew lax before a bitter smile appeared on the young girl's face, realization dawning on her how patient the woman was with her and how far that patience would stretch. A smile, this time in genuine thankfulness overtook the girl. The mother of 2 had difficulty standing as the girl hugged her mother with a force that brought memories of both kids in their toddler years. It gave the aged woman hope those two had not been lost to the aging process.

"Now. You've been working hard for the longest while? Why don't you tell me what you've come up with?" She asked in the same tone she held when they were younger

It didn't seem to bother Kiyoi.

* * *

"So… you're telling me that you've found a way to see what Taiyo is seeing?" The mother's eyes widened, slight wrinkles at their corners showing the stress the woman had been under the past while

"Yes. It was difficult and it would have to be adapted to each individual person but we can finally see what Kayaba has done to our loved ones." The daughter said looking out the car window as they neared the hospital specifically designed to

The mother turned into the hospital, lining up the vehicle within the space of a nearby. It fit and they exited the car, one impossibly nervous, the other impossibly hopeful.

They entered the hospital, signing in to the guest roster before they traveled the room for their misfortune sibling and son respectively. The mother watched as the young girl immediately rushed to the boy's side, pulling his hand into her's. It was a gesture that showed the close bond they shared.

"Don't worry. It won't be long…" The mother heard her daughter whisper to her other child despite his visibly comatose state

The young girl pulled out an assortment of wires and a shoddy looking piece of electrical equipment that made the mother's heart jump in fear. Was her daughter trying to kill Taiyo? Her question was answered with a resounding no as she saw a majority of the wires connect to a separate device similar to the one that adorned her son's head.

These wires connected to a collection of soldered boards that the mother wondered how much the girl had learned to attempt this.

"Mom." Her daughter's attention was drawn to her causing the mother's eyes to quickly turn from the equipment to the one speaking, "Once I put this helmet on, I'm going to fall asleep for a little while. Once it hits 17:00, unplug it from the wall."

"Wait. Why?" Yuno's eyes knitting in fear and concern

"I have to be sleeping for me to see anything. Please." The teen's eyes held a solidarity that destroyed any resolve the woman had before

"... Okay. 17:00? Unplug it from the wall?"

"Yep. It'll hurt a bit, but it's the only way to get out of it without Taiyo getting disconnected… which would not be good."

The mother nodded, watching the girl sit and lean back against the bed frame that held her sibling. The helmet raised and covered the girl's head before the girl's arms went limp. Yuno felt her heart skip a beat before she put effort into calming herself. This was normal.

She gave a bitter chuckle.

"What even is normal anymore?" She said through moist eyes, glancing to the clock

* * *

Kiyoi saw a wave of lights flash by her, immersing her in the world that had trapped her brother. She saw through his eyes. She felt what he felt. She could feel what he felt. She felt a heavy suit of armor, but to her brother… it seemed comfortable. She could recognize a slight breeze that danced through both of their senses. Her breath hitched when she actually paid attention to visuals. The time in the game matched the time outside as she could recognize but that wasn't what caused her reaction. No… it was the gorgeous sunset that occupied her brother's vision. It looked almost like someone had melted a lilac marble as the colors spread across the sky. She felt his face tug into a smile. It wasn't quite familiar to her. She could tell the face wasn't his. His avatar's? Probably.

She felt the warmth of the ball of gas spread across his cheeks but oddly dissipate from the areas covered by the cloak. Her brother looked down, giving her a view of the cobbled wall on which he stood. His vision rose back up as for the first time in her time sharing senses with her brother, she heard him speak. It was distinctly his voice, but it held a slightly deeper tone.

"I miss ya, sis." She felt his eyes grow teary as the smile never left

She could tell it was genuine.

"Now. It's about time I get some rest. Boss Day's coming tomorrow." With that, she felt a jolt of pain

The colors of the world grew tainted and it compounded with her forming migraine. She felt as if her brain would burst for a moment but as soon as it began… it stopped, replaced by the familiar and infuriating visage of the hospital room.

Her hour was over.

* * *

08:00 Next Day

I pulled myself up from the bed he shared with Kirito. I would have preferred to avoid thi, but with the large number of players in Tolbana, whether it be to take part in the raid or to support those who did, the inns were packed. Kirito and I had only managed to snag 2 rooms, one of which was only gotten at Asuna's request. I found it reasonable but it still cost me 3,000 Col for 1 room. Considering the average rent of 200 Col, it was a ludicrous sum for such a tiny room.

I sighed before getting up and equipping my armor. Once the blue light faded, I left the room.

I exited the inn, thinking of anything I needed to get. Coming up with blanks, I decided to head to the local player owned food stand. In the short, while we players had been stuck in the game, several players had focused on mimicking the creations of their original world. It was almost entirely Japanese cooking, but I didn't mind for the most part. It just limited what I could eat.

I couldn't stomach the taste of seafood since I was little. Mom was allergic and I followed suit with her… not in the allergic part but not liking the taste of seafood. It was kind of obvious why in my mom's case but it wasn't for me. This combined with the fact that I avoided seafood almost entirely meant I tended to avoid it like the plague.

Truly a sad fact considering I lived in Japan.

I entered the plaza that held most of the player markets. The prices here tended to be outrageous but at the same time the items that it carried tended to lend it towards being for the high-level players.

I grabbed a semi-poor tasting bowl of Ramen noodles and sat in a nearby chair. The air wasn't quite as toasty as it was most days, so I enjoyed a lightly brisk morning. I pulled some noodles from the bowl with my chopsticks and carefully blew on the noodles to cool them.

I slurped them up with a smile as I felt the taste of Ramen flood my mouth. Sadly it wasn't that of the actual Ramen shop, but that of the various pre-packaged brands. It was mid-range as far as it went for that as well, causing me to miss my favorite brand of Ramen… at least this type. Ichiban Raman did follow through with it's promise of being best as the brand's name suggested.

A thud drew me from my thoughts as I heard another player sit down in the seat across from me. Instead of the Ramen, the person carried a plate that held one of the more… controversial items on the menu.

The Cheeseburger.

It was by far the most inconsistent item on the menu, often ranging from tasting exactly to the original or tasting like cardboard dunked in gasoline. I raised an eyebrow at the person, her actions not befitting of traditional Japanese edicate. For example, on the plate, there was also a large bowl of fried rice. It wasn't too out of the ordinary besides the extremely large portion sizes for someone who was Japanese. No, the most blatant disregard was the chopsticks. They were stabbed into the rice vertically… a sign of bad luck.

I carefully examined the girl's mannerisms and decided to take a chance.

"Unless you want to draw some eyes, put your chopsticks in the holder on the bowl." I said in perfect English

The girl's eyes bugged out at me as she flailed with her chopsticks, eventually managing to get them in the bowl with only a few prying eyes."

"You know English?"

"Yeah. I grew up in the US." I answer simply

"Oh thank the lord… I thought I'd never English again!" Her exaggerated tone and haphazard mannerisms further confirming my suspicions

"Mississippi. You?"

"Kansas. Just north of the border to Oklahoma."

"That's nice." I said cordially before continuing, "You might want to tone your reactions down a bit. It's drawing attention."

"Oh." She shrunk at my words, still not changing her dramaticism

I sighed quietly before motioning for her to pick up her food and follow me. She obliged and we exited the plaza to a decently well-hidden bench area. It was well shaded, causing the temperature to fall several degrees and bringing the morning from brisk to slightly chilly.

She placed her food on the table immediately and proceeded to perform a sloppy bow.

"Thank you! I'm so sorry for embarrassing you! I'm just not that familiar with Japan yet…" Her sloppy bows continued until I spoke up

"Well, you're obviously American. I shouldn't expect you to know that kind of stuff. On the other hand, that doesn't really matter to them. Japan's always been pretty xenophobic."

"Oh." She looked depressed now, leaving me with a sense of guilt

I frowned as I tried to resist the urge to help. There was no real reason to get involved in her matters. I had a raid coming up and there was no need to cau-

"Damnit." I sighed out, drawing a hopeful eye from the girl

"I'll help but I can't do much today. I'm going to be taking part in a raid. If I'm going to do this I'm gonna need your name though." I said, making my frank displeasure well known

She gave several sloppy bows and thanked me profusely.

"First lesson before we exchange names, If you're going to bow, try to do it cleanly. Keep your palms flat against your thighs unless you've screwed up royally. Keep that in mind next time you go into that fit you call bowing."

Her eyes grew wide at the criticism and she nodded in confirmation, seeming to take every ounce of my words to heart. She seemed to drift off in thought for a moment before snapping up with her memory sorted.

"I'll keep that in mind. What's your name?" She asked in an actually polite manner

Apparently, there _was_ hope for her.

"Amat. A-M-A-T in English."

"Damn… you're that politician guy. I never would've figured from the look of you. You don't look like the type to sit in his cozy office talking about nonsense and getting high off of the sweat and tears of your subordinates. You look like a frontliner… one with expensive as hell equipment."

"Well, the #17 next to my level isn't for no reason." I replied with simply, a bit of Ego leaking into my voice

"Damn… how'd you even get that far? How in the hell did you have time?"

"I've always been good as seeing patterns so farming gets pretty efficient if you ask me."

"That's painfully vague." She deadpanned

"Well, I haven't got much time. I've got to meet up for a raid in…" I checked the clock, "roughly 15 minutes."

"All right then. See ya!" She said cheerily before stopping, "You never got my name!"

"Oh yeah!" I said waving for her to tell me

"Kokiri… well, it's not my actual one… but I'm guessing you aren't really called 'Amat' by your parents."

I got a ding not long after her back passed rounded the corner.

It was a friend request from Kokiri.

I pressed Accept.

* * *

Kirito sighed as the group waited at the entrance to the Dungeon. Most of the raiding party was waiting for one man. Amat. It was mainly due to the guy's known strength and his ability to strategize. The guy's abilities alone weren't enough to satiate the eagerness of some of the raiders though, causing issues. One such was the person currently annoying him now.

Kibaou.

He really wanted to hit the guy, but alas that wasn't really an option considering they were in a safe zone. It wouldn't be much of a deterrent anyways if he were to hit him. It didn't stop Kirito from fantasizing about it though.

"Well, ain't he going to be here?"

"He's probably running late with some administrative duties. If that's all, I'd like to wait in peace." Kirito said through grit teeth

Kibaou gave the swordsman a strange look before finally coming to the realization that he had overstayed his welcome. It was punctuated by a set of footsteps that the player heard in the distance. Kirito felt his heart grow with elation as he saw a familiar crop of white hair in the distance.

Oh dear… _thank_ you.

Amat made it to the group in record time as Diabel gave his speech. Kibaou rushed off to his group out of necessity. When Amat arrived, he looked generally more annoyed than anything else.

* * *

"So, what kept you?" Asuna asked, tone cold from the time she and Kirito had spent listening to the fool

"Just a good Samaritan act." I shrugged off

"And we had to deal with Kibaou." Asuna spoke up, disdain obvious in her voice

"Yeah yeah… I'll get you some Ice Cream once this is love how about that?"

She perked up at my honest offer in surprise, confusion tensing her brows

"You're feeling generous today…" Kirito said with a carefree shrug

"Yeah well… I've got a lot riding on me as of late." I said, color seeping into my words

Any response was halted by the bustling of feet.

Apparently, it was time to go.

We entered the warm, musky dungeon. The long, narrow alley we started off in was extremely cramped with the 60+ player force we had brought. The atmosphere was even more stuffy than the room itself with dimly lit candles and several ore deposits that peaked from the stone brick foundations. I gave a good look to a few of the deposits to see a silvery gray color. Connecting the dots just as a player went to harvest the metal, I shouted over the crowd:

"Don't touch the ores! They're probably Cobalt!"

Several leering hands stopped their pursuit of material and looked to me in confusion. European mythology isn't exactly common in Japan so it was to be expected.

"Kobold are said to reside within Cobalt. Hence where the name came from. You touch those, and you might release a trap." I stated my concerns

"Thank you, Amat. Now before we run into any other roadblocks, we might want to get a move on."

A frown worked it's way up my face but I said nothing.

We continued on with little to no issue until the quarter waypoint. At this point, we encountered an issue.

"Stay back! Those Kobold are walking bombs!" Diabel's voice cut through the chaos, alerting the tanks

With that, the DPS switched with the Tanks, delivering the one hit K-Os required to prevent their self-destruction. The order was immediately followed by the order to my group.

"King-Team, Queen-Team, Ace-Team! Switch!"

On Diabel's command, we switched with the 10 tanks that held the front line and while filling the ranks with only 9, three to each team, each member of the teams was at least Level 12 and were good at the game. This meant that when the Mini-Boss arrived, we were prepared. It was called The Dwarven Blacksmith and stood a good 10ft tall. We dodged its first strike, barely managing to keep from hitting the lines behind us that were keeping the Kobold off our asses.

"Short my ass!" I call out in frustration at the Dwarven giant, as oxymoronic as that sounded

"Yeah, Figure out how to stop it so Kirito can hit it! I'll keep you alive till then!" Asuna tossed me a health potion

I drank it examining the Dwarf's attack pattern, taking our recovery switch's time entirely. Its first swing dictated each attack, and it always put its axe on its shoulder once it had completed its combo. The first type of attack was a shockwave slam with its axe that seemed to lock players in place, followed by a horizontal swing then a knockback roar. That wouldn't be usable. The second attack was a molten lava spit that degraded armor and dealt fire damage. It was cleared when the Dwarf slammed his axe into the puddle of molten metal. The slam along with the puddle had a small AoE fire effect so that was another no go. It'd final combo is what I saw potential in. It was a series of 5 horizontal swipes that ended with a slam of his axe into the ground that didn't didn't do AoE damage or stun. He'd have to parry that strike.

"I got it! Switch!" I called out to Queen and King Teams

They pulled back as I said, leaving the boss to Kirito, Asuna and I. The boss went for his spitting combo, allowing me to get close and for Kirito to hold right behind me. It's axe pulled up from the finisher of its combo and I watched it as I brought up my buckler, tiny in comparison to its axe. It didn't matter though as I dodged its next 5 strikes, rolling under them before bracing myself for the final blow. Kirito was just outside its range, behind me in case things got hairy but it turned out pointless as the downward axe was met with a blinding flash of light combined with a metallic ring. The Dwarf stumbled back as it's axe flew wildly up. I could see the surprise in the digital enemy's eyes as I jumped up alongside Kirito, aiming for a separate target than him. While the swordsman aimed for the neck, seeking a critical attack, I aimed for the boss' wrist. Using the stun animation to my advantage, I dug my Estoc inside the Dwarf's wrist. I felt it writhe under my blade, but I continued until its HP bar had the Limb Damage icon under it.

The Axe fell from its hands as it dropped to one and a half bars from its full three.

I noticed the commotion from behind us had stopped. Apparently, the Kobold had stopped coming. I briefly considered if this would be an easy victory but alas, I felt a deep, foreboding sense of dread. The boss looked hurt, but it wasn't the look that caught my attention.

"Guys! We got a bullshit powerup!" I called out, drawing the full raiding group's attention

Red runes that were once tattooed over the dwarf's body were now glowing as it pulled its cape to a position that would better befit a cloak. My eyes dilated as I realized what it was doing. In a flash of flames, the Dwarf disappeared. Damn it… I forgot that Germanic Dwarves often had invisibility cloaks… and other magical items. Joy.

"Dwarves have invisibility cloaks! They also gain strength through Magical items!" I called out informing the groups of the lore

"Shit, we got his aggro!" I heard the leader of Queen-Team call

I looked over to them, seeing a brand new attack carve a player in half. I cursed mentally as I rushed forward, Kirito in tow and Asuna behind him to keep the line. I saw several blows and noticed that they appeared to lack the strength of before.

Ah… So the powered up states had flaws…

"Kirito! Get ready to switch!"

I leapt forward, jumping into one of the Dwarf's attacks. Using my buckler, I parried the strike. I grit my teeth as I felt my HP begin dropping. After all, players weren't meant to parry such large attacks. Once it hit 75%, I heard the ring. It was a signal that the parry worked. The cloak fluttered about as the dwarf's fist, the only weapon it was using at the time, flew up and overextended. The Dwarf took a large step back when I realized something.

"It's got a shorter parry stun! Move back!" I called to what remained of Queen Team

It recovered in half the time, meaning a lot of sword arts got cut short. I grimaced as Kirito stated the source of my annoyance.

"We only took 1/2 a bar this time."

He was right. It had just under a bar left, and its aggro had diminished. It wasn't attacking us at the moment, which I was thankful for. What I wasn't thankful for was the fact that I knew what it was 'doing'. Its eyes darted across the sea of players as if looking for a way to get out of this alive. I had to hand it to the developers on this one… the monsters were realistic.

I saw it shed a tear, as I felt a pulse of power. It's already glowing runes turned white as its skin dyed red. An aura grew around the miniboss, it's red fire-like waves billowing out from it as an Icon appeared under its health bar. It was similar to the poison one, but instead of the dagger and a drop of burgundy liquid, it was replaced with robes and a blue-black swirling liquid.

"Fuck." I muttered

It vanished, as I saw it lose 5% of its remaining HP. That likely had something to do with its status effect. I felt air rush past me, sending my cloak into a crazed frenzy. Another 5% was lost and I dodged a strike that was directed at me. Apparently, it saw me as the greatest threat. I looked to the decently sized plumes of smoke that told me where its feet was. Apparently, its ability did have a flaw. It surprised me how quickly I had noticed that. Perhaps it was the fact that this was VR, unlike the other games he had seen.

I dodged another two invisible strikes, causing it to lose another 10%. At this stage though, the Dwarf had enough health that a single parry would end the foe. Glancing around, I noticed the lack of people around me. Had they run? No… he didn't see Kirito or Asuna as the types to run. I glanced around to see that they seemed to be stuck behind a small lake of lava.

Ah… so this was an isolation move. Normally, this would be used to isolate and wipe out the Tanks in a party, completely destroying a raid team shortly after. Unluckily for it though, I was the only thing trapped here. That meant that this was likely a wasted maneuver even if I died. The raid would continue with little issue. I didn't have any plan for that though. After all, I still had roughly 70% HP as the moment. It was well more than enough for even a sloppy parry.

As such, I waited.

I dropped its invisibility after a short while, seeming to realize that it would do no good against me. I pointed the tip of my blade at the mini-boss, using the Taunt skill that was unique to Rapier and Estoc wielders. It provided a 20% boost to AGL at the cost of drawing attention to every nearby mob within sightline. Rapier users got a 40% buff, but the taunt also reduced their ATK by 10%. It was a useful maneuver as the Dwarf charged me, preparing to grab me and crush me. It was unparryable, so I dodged. The AGL boost gave me the speed necessary to wind around the creature and pester it's health bar a bit. It dropped to its knees, health too low to put up much of a fight.

I sighed as I walked to its front. Hate burned in the Mob's eyes. It felt almost genuine, nearly drawing a wince of guilt from me. I steadied my blade though, in a traditional fencing form. I wasn't particularly extraordinary in my abilities in fencing, but I knew how to get into form at least.

I tilted back a bit, angling my blade flat with its jugular and windpipe. It would be a near instant kill.

Like a coiled spring, I released a single strike Sword Skill.

* * *

A/N: Well guys, I've got to say… I enjoyed writing this one so far. It's the longest chapter I've ever written in fact… Really gives you an appreciation for the guys who can pump out 10k every week. Power to ya! As for the next chapter, I'm not sure when that'll be but It will finally have Illfang and it'll be about this long for him alone. That's kind of why I wanted to write it out like this. The length is astounding compared to the rest so I hope it helps you feel how long this short period may feel to the player.

Questions, Concerns, Recommendations?

Leave a review or send me a PM.

I give each and every idea consideration so if you find a flaw or imbalance in the mechanics I present, I'd rather you tell me so I can balance that out rather than leave it in my story.

Well, See Ya!


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